Archive for the ‘Our Jewish Robot Future’ Category

I agree with your comment that species, described in my book as vegetarian, ate more than plants. They absorbed insects, bacteria, and fecal material as part of the eating process. It was an impossibility for them to clean away all food impurities. Where I differ is your suggestion that vegans don’t eat impurities. Grains, fruits, and vegetables are not free of insects or bacteria. Vegans may not eat impurities in the same quantities today– because we utilize better methods of cleaning and processing food–but eat them they do. Impurities surround us. To think all food is 100% pure is folly. I eat a biblical diet, but God only knows what I have ingested. The thought of eating insects on a camping trip–such as ticks, which are not biblically permitted–is not to my liking. It’s not intentional. I can’t avoid it, but I do accept it.

I respect the beliefs of vegans. But do not overreach with regards to its purity. Only robots can make that claim.

I would bring to your attention our changing universe and its impact on food sources. Earth has changed; Species of animal and vegetable have changed; Food sources and systems of raising animals or farming for vegetables and fruit have changed; Habitats have changed; Inland waters have changed. For example, bass feed on plants, but they also eat insects and crayfish. (Crayfish are a shellfish and therefore not biblically permitted for consumption.) They compete with other fish for the same food in impure waters filled with waste. Pure streams or bodies of water only appear in advertisements. In conclusion, when hungry, in a limited environment, anybody or anything will eat what is available.

The cannibalism I described in my Garden of Eden book is different. I wrote about my vision of an idealistic human spiritual life. Semi-nomadic existence ruled, and survival for these tribesmen meant life was supported by logic, instinct, and back-breaking work. No schools existed. Children faced the same dangers, as their parents: starvation, disease, and injury or death from warfare. They learned everything needed to survive from their parents: harvesting crops, shepherding, and fighting with weapons. I had an overwhelming respect for them.

In this year’s headlines, horrific acts of cannibalism have savaged several victims. The most notable was a homeless person having his face totally disfigured. I would classify eating the face of another person as an act of violence. But there are other forms of cannibalism. Eating the body of another human, when hungry, is an act of desperation. I think of the Chilean sports team members who survived a plane crash and lived in the Andes for months before being found. We know our ancestors from ten of thousands of years ago feasted on their fathers in an act of triumph or as a way to imbibe knowledge. Can we separate that type of cannibalism from desperation or violence?

Were humans vegetarians in the beginning? Probably not. Gathering food, they feared being the hunted. Gathering plants was easy. So was picking up scraps from a dead animal’s carcass. As individuals, we have a short span of time to satisfy our hunger. Watch out. They are billions of other like individuals.

View the complete list of Science Fiction competitors here. Winners will be announced at the American Library Association (ALA) Conference, June 23-28, 2011.

Our Jewish Robot Future presents a cheeky story that visits the Garden of Eden and questions the absence of an 11th commandment: Thou shall NOT nosh thy brother. Margarita Haralson, a post-menopausal housewife determined to become pregnant in spite of her children’s refusal to give her grandchildren, narrates the story to her newborn child. This is a must read for anyone curious for an alternative, comedic take on human existence and Jewish family relations.

“A strange adventure with even stranger concepts … a highly entertaining and very highly recommended read.” — The Midwest Book Review, November 2010

Another great hit for Leonard Borman’s Our Jewish Robot Future. Midwest Book Review calls this futuristic novel “highly entertaining and a very highly recommended read.”

Read the review in Midwest Book Review’s Small Press Watch for November. This review will appear in the Cengage Learning, Gale interactive CD ROM series “Book Review Index” published 4 times yearly for academic, corporate and public library systems as well as book review databases (LexixNexis and Goliath). This review will also be posted on amazon by Midwest Book Review.

Everyone is talking about Our Jewish Robot Future that is. I recently had a nice mention in the bookshelf section of Tablet Magazine. Here’s a small taste of what they had to say:

“If Jewish/vampire trysts and Orthodox dragonslayers sound too old-fashioned for you, you might prefer Leonard Borman’s Our Jewish Robot Future (Scarletta, October), which comes freighted with the illustrative subtitle “A Comedic Novel about the Garden of Eden and the Cyborgian Transformation of the Human Race.” If nothing else, the novel demonstrates how irresistible it is for some authors to insert Jewishness into their wild fantasies…” Read the rest here.

When considering writing about the Garden of Eden, I thought the book would be an in depth study of the sacred grounds and story characters. I believed, in the end, it would be a worthwhile book and a crowning achievement. I quickly realized, the research to support my ideas would not help to prove anything. Knowledgeable people in biblical studies would dismiss my work, as flippant and prove personally embarrassing. Questions, I imagined, as to why I was awarded a graduate degree, would surface. I imagined it would be a reflection on the University. They had a point. In graduate school, I read subpar works thought by authors to be tomes. I hadn’t planned to join that infamous group. I had self-respect.

I changed my approach and wrote fiction, in biographical form, about a bon vivant discovering the true essence of the Garden of Eden story. The storyteller was Leopold Rabbit, who in time proved to be a character too close to home. Leopold and Leonard sounded similar and Rabbit coincided with my powers of procreation. A first draft was completed and it was awful. In addition, I lacked the mechanics to write a good story. I used the finished draft as scrap paper for my printer.

I revisited a teacher at the University of Michigan. His advice was clear: write a story in first person, in the form of a memoir. He was right. Even so, writing it was not problem free. Oh, words flowed off my fingertips into the computer. Defining the lead character at every turn proved difficult. At every turn, the novel sounded like my autobiography.

After thought, I decided the novel’s main character would be, as close as possible, the most improbable person I knew on the planet. The criteria refined my thinking questioning, who from my world is 180 degrees. Where would I find such a person? Walk around town. Maybe I’d find ample selections. Immediately, ideas sprouted. The lead character had to be a woman. Other traits flowed: a foreign born character, someone who we knew that lived in a different society, flamboyant, attractive but not magnetizing. Some parts of the character needed to be close to home: believable, able to live in conservative Birmingham, Michigan. Someone outgoing who would be an unreliable narrator fit my mold.

Sometimes writers know such a person. A real person they’ve met, a friend or lifelong relation. Even if they’re a figment in your mind, authors change names and the person becomes fictionalized. Margarita was different. Even though I brought her to life, I have never met or seen such a person. I’ve traveled to Italy, and I’ve met men who married Italian born women living here in Michigan. There has never been a match. I can’t say that about all the other characters in my novel.

Writing a book was the last thing on my mind finishing graduate school. My goal was to give back time to the community by teaching religious studies. A good public servant aspired to teach, without seeking to better his resume. I was qualified and prepared to proceed. Ideas how to teach effectively, flowed in my head, as a masterpiece. Students hearing the driving words I’d proclaim in history, philosophy, and literature would absorb and apply needed lifetime information. In addition, a veritable storehouse of knowledge from my lifetime of experience would be accessed.

I hoped to inspire the students to seek life’s higher values, hoping they would pursue them with enthusiasm. I imagined parents calling the school telling the administration the improvement I made in their children’s lives. Alas, connecting with students proved difficult to nonexistent. My tenure lasted two years. The letdown was analogous to seeing a plane crash and burn. Students carried the boredom from home into the classroom. It was unmistakable. Their faces projected, I don’t care what you’re teaching. Can’t I go home to nap and watch TV?

Some of the baggage carried to the classroom and expressed consisted of bigoted remarks. Laughter ensued and I needed to throw a cold bucket of water on the pervading tone. I much preferred a corporeal bop on the head. Diffusing a situation with strong words was the only method allowed. Being good at being a one minute manager, I told the student sternly such remarks weren’t tolerated, anytime or anywhere. The air temporarily thickened, however, the incident didn’t end. When class dismissed, the response from some students was my remarks were considered an insult rather than discipline or a forewarning. They planned to tell their parents what happened at home. The intent to have me fired was clear. I didn’t wait for any possible talk about dismissal. I went to the director, well before the end of the school year, and said I would not be returning in the fall and wished the school success.

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(The postings, comments, and thoughts on this site are solely those of author Leonard Borman, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or ideals of Scarletta employees.)
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